Wife of 'Canoe Man' in court

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Anne Darwin, the wife of a British man who reappeared five years after he was thought to have drowned, appeared in court Tuesday on deception charges totaling more than £160,000 ($320,000).

Darwin was charged with two counts of deception relating to a life insurance payout and a mortgage policy during an appearance at Hartlepool Magistrates' Court in northeast England, a spokeswoman for Cleveland Police, the force investigating the case, told CNN.

She entered no plea and was remanded in custody until December 14, the same date that her husband, John Darwin, is due to appear in the same court via a video link, the police spokeswoman said.

No application for bail was made, she added.

John Darwin appeared in court Monday. He's accused of making an untrue statement to procure a passport and of obtaining £25,000 ($50,000) by deception.

The 57-year-old former prison officer and teacher was declared dead by a coroner after the remains of a kayak he paddled into the North Sea washed up on shore in 2002.

However, he created headlines around the world and was christened the "canoe man" by the British media after he reappeared at a central London police station last week.

Mrs. Darwin, 55, returned to Britain over the weekend after she was tracked down by reporters to her new home in Panama City, Panama.

She was charged Monday with two counts of deception, one relating to obtaining the £25,000 by cash transfer and the other relating to obtaining £137,000 by cash transfer.

Witnesses said Mrs. Darwin looked disheveled and pale as she was led in to the court handcuffed to a female police officer.

She spoke only to confirm her name and faced forward throughout the short hearing, making no attempt to look to the public gallery, witnesses added.

Following the court appearance, she was taken to the nearby Low Newton prison, the spokeswoman said.

A massive air and sea rescue operation was launched in March 2002, when John Darwin went missing.

Within 24 hours, the kayak paddle was recovered by police near the area where he was thought to have disappeared and, two months later, the remains of his kayak washed up on the coast.

A coroner declared Darwin dead in 2003, 13 months after his disappearance.E-mail to a friend